Hopper outlet unit



July 9, 1968 J. H. LIEBENTHAL HOPPER OUTLET UNIT 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 5, 1967 fl fl John H Lieb nThaL July 9, 1968 J. H. LIEBENTHAL 3,391,837

HOPPER OUTLET UNIlT 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent 3,391,837 HOPPER OUTLET UNIT John H. Liebenthal, Homewood, 111., assignor to Keystone Railway Equipment Company, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Delaware Filed May 5, 1967, Ser. No. 636,330 Claims. (Cl. 222-485) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A hopper outlet unit adapted to be afiixed at the base of the hopper of a railroad hopper car for vacuum discharge of finely divided material therefrom is disclosed. The hopper outlet unit is formed for gravitationally feeding the contents of the hopper to four lowermost areas of small size. These areas have port provisions opening into a channel transversely extending across the unit. The channel opens into a nozzle assembly to which a vacuum discharge hose may be attached to extract the finely divided material from the unit. A port closing member of inverted U-shape conforming, shaped and sized to inside of the channel and slidably movable from a position in which it closes the four ports to a position clear of the ports to give a range of opening sizes. The closing member is manually movable by means of a rod attached thereto which passes out of the channel through a vacuum seal for operation from the outside of the unit.

The vacuum nozzle assembly is provided with a cap assembly for securely closing the output when not in use. The cap assembly includes a pair of linkages on either side of the nozzle assembly and a handle attached thereto whereby the cap may be easily and quickly removed to allow a vacuum hose to be attached and yet still retained by the linkage and by which the cap may be replaced and secured.

Background of the invention The present invention is directed towards a new and improved hopper outlet unit for a hopper railroad car. The unit is specially adapted for vacuum discharge of finely divided material such as grain This present invention also relates to an apparatus for continuously adjusting the rate flow over a specific range so as to achieve a desired or predetermined rate of flow from the car.

The object of this invention is to provide a new and useful hopper output unit.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a hopper outlet unit of the vacuum discharge type in which the rate of discharge is variable over a predetermined range at the selection of the user.

Summary 0 the invention A hopper discharge unit for a railroad hopper car that can handle finely divided material such as grain constructed flow tunneling means for tunneling the material fining means for defining a channel adjacent to the area and a port between the channel and the area. A closure member is provided for closing the port is slidably mounted in the channel and means for moving the closure member between a position closing the port and a position in which the port is open from without the unit. The unit also includes outlet means for allowing material to be withdrawn from the channel.

Brief description of the drawings The features of the present invention which are believed to be novel are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention, together with further 3,391,837 Patented July 9, 1968 ice objects and advantages thereof, may best be understood by reference to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in the several figures of which like reference numerals identify like elements, and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary plan view with hidden parts shown in dashed lines, of a hopper outlet unit constructed in accordance with the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is an elevational side view of the hopper outlet unit of FIGURE 1 as seen from the line 2-2 in that figure;

FIGURE 3 is an elevational sectional view of the hopper unit of FIGURES 1 and 2 as seen along the line 33 in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is an elevational view, partially in section, of the unit of FIGURES l3 as seen generally along the line 44 of FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 5 is a view similar to that of FIGURE 4 of the unit of FIGURES 1-4, in which parts are shown in 2. moved position and some parts are shown in yet another moved position in dashed lines.

Detailed description Referring to FIGURE 1 there is depicted, in accordance with the present invention, a preferred embodiment a hopper outlet unit which is generally designated by the numeral 10. The unit 10 is attached to the bottom of a hopper car by means of a generally horizontal fiange 12. The flange 12 is made up of four elongated flat rectangular members. Two of these members, 12a and 12b are parallel and spaced apart while two other members including the member and a similar member (not shown) are similarly spaced apart and parallel to each other but are oriented at a right angle to members 12a and 12b. The members of flange 12 are joined together at their longitudinal ends to form a rectangular configuration.

As preferably affixed to the railway hopper, the members 12a and 12!: extend transversely of the railway car and the member 120 extends longitudinally thereof. For convenience these references will be used in describing the unit 10.

Aflixed to the inner edges of the flange 12 are sloping walls generally designated 13 designed to form an extension into the unit of the walls of the railroad car hopper to which the unit 10 is attached. From each of the mem bers of the flange 12 there depends trapezoidally shaped planar walls: a wall 13a aflixed along a common horizontal line 14a to member 12a; a Wall 13b afiixed along a common horizontal line 14b to member 12b; a wall aflixed along a common horizontal line 14c to the member 12c; and a wall 13d similarly affixed to the fourth member of flange 12. Each of the walls 13 are aflixed to the members of the flange 12 along their longest edges and are oriented in planes canted at 45 to the horizontal. The side edge of adjacent walls lie along the same lines and are aflixed to each other therealong. Thus the walls 13a and 13c are joined together along a line 15a, the walls 13a and 13d are joined along a line 15d, the walls 13c and 13b are joined along a line 15c and the walls 13b and 13d are joined along line 15b.

The lower horizontal edges of the walls 13 all lie in a vertical plane in which they define a rectangle of reduced area than that defined by their upper horizontal edges. A floor plate 17 of a conforming rectangular size is aflixed to the bottom edges of the walls 13.

Affixed within the hopper extension formed by the walls 13 along the floor plate 17 is a channel defining member 19 which is, as is best shown in FIGURE 3, of a generally inverted U-shape. The member 19 has short vertical sidewalls 19a widely spaced apart and spanned by a horizontal top wall 19]) extending therebetween. The channel member 19 is preferably formed of a unitary sheet of metal and has curving junctions between its sidewalls 19a and top wall 1%, as shown at 19c. The channel member 19 is atfixed along the lower edges of its sidewalls 19a to the floor plate as by welding at 19d.

As best shown in FIGURES l, 4 and 5 the channel member 19 extends transversely between and beyond the walls 130 and 13d about the transverse center line of the unit 10. It extends longitudinally on the floor plate 17 on either side of the transverse center line so as to leave only a small part of the longitudinal expanse of floor plate on either side of it. The channel 19 is Welded or otherwise afiixed in a leak proof manner to the walls 130 and 13d along the inverted U-shaped openings formed therein to receive it, as, for example, at 20 in FIGURES 4 and 5.

Afiixed to the channel 19 and also transversely extending between walls 130 and 13d is a flow divider 22. The flow divider 22 is of an inverted V-shape in cross-section (FIG. 3) and is made up essentially of two generally planar transverse walls 22a and 22b joined at a horizontal line 22c. Each wall 22a and 22b depend downward at a 45 angle to the horizontal from line 22c until they meet the channel 19 along horizontal transverse lines 22d and 22e, respectively. The flow divider 22 is there afiixed, preferably by Welding, in a leak-proof manner to channel 19 along the lines 22a and 22e. The divider 22 is preferably formed of a single sheet of stock metal bent atits center. The V-shaped side edges of the flow divider 22 meet, abut against and are similarly afiixed in a leakuroof manner to the walls 13c and 13a.

The upward pointing flow divider 22 functions to effectively deflect the flow of material, such as grain, contained in the hopper car into two equal parts, one part going to each side of the flow divider 22 and the channel member 19.

Also provided within the hopper extension defined by the walls 13 are two secondary flow dividers 25 and 26. These secondary dividers 25 and 26 are positioned along the longitudinal center line of the hopper extension formed by the Walls 13 at either side of the divider 22 and are at a lower height than that of the divider 22. These dividers 25 and 26 each function to further divide in half the fiow divided by the flow divider 22.

The flow dividers 25 and 26 are each of an inverted V- shaped in transverse cross-section (FIGS. 4 and 5) and are formed of two planar walls 25a, 25b or 26a, 26b (FIG. 1) depending at 45 to the horizontal from a common horizontal junction line 25c or 25d. The divider 25 extends from a V-shaped interception with wall 13a, along which it is afiixed in a leak-proof manner, to an irregular shaped interception line, along which it is similarly afiixed, with the sidewall 19b and curving junction 190 of channel 19 and the wall 22a of divider 22. Similarly divider 26 extends between and is similarly aflixed to channel 19, divider 22, and wall 13b.

The dividers 22, 25 and 26 thus divide any downward flow from the hopper into four parts and direct that flow into four zones.

The channel member 19 has four spaced entrance ports 29, 30, 31 and 32 formed therein, each opening into one of the four zones or pockets formed by dividers. The ports 29, 30, 31 and 32 are preferably formed by cutting out selectors from the sidewalls 19a and curving portions 190. "llhese cut out portions are taken from a position vertically above and extend between the intersections with the floor plate 17 of the walls 130 and 13d and the secondary flow dividers 25 and 26. In this manner generally rectangular ports are formed approximately the full height of the channel member 19.

As mentioned above, the channel member 19 extends through the walls 13c and 13d. At both ends, additional floor plates 33 and 34 are provided in the same plane as floor plate 17 to continue the floor of the channel member 19 and to define with the floor plate 17 a transverse- 1y running fiat tube-like channel C (FIGS. 3-5). The tube-like channel C is closed at one transverse end by means of a wall 38 (FIG. 4) and is terminated at its other end by a support plate 39. The channel C opens through the plate 39 in a generally rectangular opening, conforming the size to the longitudinal cross-section of the channel. The support plate 39 is welded or otherwise afiixed to the outer surface of wall 13c as at 40.

Sidably mounted within the channel C is a port closure member 50. The member is of a generally inverted U-shaped configuration in cross-section and has spaced relatively short sidewalls 50a bridged by a relatively wide top wall 50b. The top wall 50b and sidewalls 50a preferably merge in an arching or curving portions 500 (FIG. 3).

The central portion of both of the sidewalls 50a and the corresponding portion of the arching portion 50c are removed to form openings 51 and 52 (FIG. 1).

The inverter U-shaped closure member 50 is so sized and shaped as to fit snugly within the channel C formed by the inverter U-shaped channel member 19. Furthermore, the openings 51 and 52 are sized and shaped so as to conform to the size and shape of the ports 29 and 32 when the closure unit 50 is positioned in the open position as shown in FIGURE 5. However, the transversely extending member 50 has sidewall portions 50a, and corresponding arching portion 50c of a sufiicient extent to close olf the ports 29-32 when the member 59 is in the closed configuration of FIGURE 4.

Manual closure means for altering the position of the member 50 over a range from the fully closed position of FIGURE 4 to a fully open position of FIGURE 5 are provided which includes a transversely extending rod 55. The rod 55 is welded or otherwise afiixed at 56 (FIG. 3) to the interior of one arching section 500 of the member 50. The exterior end of the rod 55 has a grasping knob 58 afiixed thereto for ease in manually adjusting the position of the rod 55 and thus the position of the closure member 50 and the rate of fiow through the channel C.

The rod 55 passed out of the opening in the the plate 39 from the channel C to the outside of the unit 10 through a nozzle and cap assembly generally designated by the numeral 60. The assembly 60 includes a butt plate 61 having an opening sized to conform with that of plate 39. As best shown in FIGURES 4 and 5 this butt plate 61 rests against the plate 39. The assembly 60 is aflixed to the plate 39 by bolting the abutting plate 61 thereto by means of nut-bolt units 63.

The assembly 60 further includes, aflixed to the plat 61 about the opening into channel C, a nozzle 64 by which the cross-sectional configuration of opening of the channel C, is changed from rectangular at plate 61 to circular, at 65. Positioned outward of the nozzle 64 is a hollow cylindrical portion 68 for receiving a vacuum discharge hose or the like. While the inside diameter of the cylindrical portion 68 is constant to facilitate flow therethrough, its outer diameter is not. The cylindrical portion 68 includes an outstanding ring like portion 68a adjacent to the nozzle 64 and a smaller outside diameter 68b thereafter.

The rod 55 passes into a hollow tube or pipe section 70 which passes through the wall of the nozzle 64 at 71. The pipe 70 is preferably welded to the nozzle at 71 or otherwise attached thereto in a manner to prevent air leakage at the intersection thereof. Leakage via a passageway between the rod 55 and the pipe 71 is prevented by means of a cap seal 72, such as are well known in the art.

Th cap subassembly of the cap and nozzle assembly 60 is generally designated 75 and includes a hollow cylindrical cap 76 one end of which is closed by a circular wall 76a. The interior diameter of the cap 75 is such as to fit closely on the cylindrical section 68b of the outlet hollow cylinder 68. The circular end of the cap 75 away from the wall 76a has an outside ring 76b positioned and afiixed thereabout for abutting against the ring 68a of the cylindrical section 68 when in the closed position (FIG. 4).

The cap 76 is attached to and secured in the closed position of FIGURE 4 by means of a linkage arrangement. Positioned on either side of the ring 68a and pivotally connected thereto at 80 are a pair of short pivot arms 81, which are pivoted at 81 about a horizontal axis. The arms 81 lie in a vertical plane generally flush against the sides of the ring 68a at the Pivot 80 but have a center portion canted outward therefrom, as best seen in FIGURES 1 and 2. Their terminal ends also lie in Vertical planes at which each is pivotally connected at 82 to one of a pair of L-shaped arms 83. The arms 83 at the pivot 82 similarly lie in vertical planes. The arms 83 include, however, inward canted section 83a (FIG. 1) corresponding to that of the arms 81. The long members of the arms 83 lie about vertical planes adjacent (in the closed position) to the sides of cap 76. The end of the arms 83 are pivoted at 84 to the cap 76. This pivot includes a pivot bar 85 which is afiixed across the horizontal diameter at the cap 76, adjacent to and outside of the circular wall 76a.

Welded to the upper edge of the arms 83 at the top of the canted portion 83a thereof, and bridging over and and between the arm 83 is a U-shaped bar handle 89. To remove the cap 76 from the outlet 68 the handle 89 is simply manually moved outward. This causes the arms 81 to pivot about the pivots 80 and to move the arms 83 and cap 76 outward. When the handle 89 has been moved backward sufficiently the cap 76 is advanced ofi the end of the outlet 68, as shown in solids lines in FIG- URE 5, and will swing downward by the force of gravity to a position clear of the outlet, as shown in dashed lines in FIGURE 5.

The above described unit may, for example, be constructed primarily of stock inch steel sheet. The rod 55 may be made inch diameter round steel stock. When so constructed the unit may have an over all longitudinal extent of approximately inches, a transverse extent (with the cap 76 in its closed position) of approximately 52 inches and a height of approximately 9 inches. The channel C is then proportionately approximately two inches in height and 12 inches in width. The floor plate 17, walls 131: and 13b, and their flange members 12a and 12b may be made from a single sheet of stock inch steel while the wall 130 and 13d their respective flange members may be formed from a similar unitary sheet. Using the suggested construction a simply assembled unit 10 may be produced. Although these dimensions and constructions are advantageous it should be noted that many other sizes and variations in construction are possible within the spirit and scope of the invention.

In over all operation, the unit 10 functions to selectively allow grain or other finely divided material to flow from the hopper through the unit and out through the outlet 68 into a vacuum hose or similar transferring unit. The rate of flow is precisely governable by the positioning of the knob 58.

The unit 10 is kept in the closed state with the closure member positioned to close the ports 29, 3t 31, and 32 and the cap 76 over and closing the outlet 68 as shown in FIGURE 4. In preparing the unit for vacuum discharge of the hoppers contents, the cap 76 is first removed by grasping the handle 89 and pulling it outward. The cap assembly 76 is then allowed to swing downward clear of the outlet 68 and a hose attached to the outlet. At this time the knob 58 is pulled outward, this advances the bar to the left (FIGS. 4 and 5) and slides the attached closure member leftward. When the sidewall sections 50a are moved sufficiently, the ports 29-32 are Opened to allow flow therethrough into the channel C. The material entering the channel C is drawn out thereof into the nozzle section 64 and out through the outlet 68 into the hose. As grain or the like is withdrawn through the ports 3032, more grain is drawn downward from the hopper. The flow of material is divided and funneled by the flow dividers 22, 25, and 26 and the walls 13 to the areas adjacent the ports 30-32 to facilitate the discharge of the materials therethrough.

One major advantage of the present invention is that during discharge of the material the size of the openings of the ports 30-32 may be varied over a range by positioning the knob 58 to adapt the unit 10 to diiferent rates of flow, different vacuum pressures, or different materials.

While particular embodiments of the invention have been shown and described, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that changes and modifications may be made without departing from the invention in its broader aspects, and, therefore, the aim in the appended claims is to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim as my invention:

1. A hopper discharge unit for a hopper of a railway hopper car that may contain finely divided material comprising:

flow funneling means including fiow divider means for funneling the material to a plurality of areas;

channel defining means for defining a channel adjacent to each of said areas, said channel defining means further defining a port between the channel and each of said areas;

a port closure member positioned in the channel and slidably mounted therein for movement between a position simultaneously closing all of said ports between the channel and said areas, and a position in which said ports are simultaneously opened;

means for moving said closure member between said positions from without the unit; and

outlet means for allowing material to be withdrawn from the channel.

2. The hopper discharge unit as defined in claim 1 in which:

said flow funneling means includes four walls canted to the horizontal and joined together to form an extension of the hopper;

said flow divider means includes a first flow divider extending between opposite ones of said walls to divide the downward flow of material into two parts and a pair of secondary flow dividers each extending from the said first flow divider on opposite sides thereof to opposite ones of said other walls, said secondary flow dividers each dividing one part of the downward flow in two parts, so that the downward flow is divided into four parts and directed to one of four areas;

said channel defining means includes a generally inverted U-shaped, in cross-section, member extending between opposite ones of said walls and through one of said walls, said member having cut-out side wall portions adjacent to each of the four areas defining said ports;

said closure member includes a generally inverted U- shaped, in cross-section, closure member conforming generally to the interior configuration of said channel defining member and having sidewalls positioned so as to close said ports formed in the channel member when in the closed position and to allow passage therethrough when in the opened position, said closure member being slidable along the axis of the channel and functioning to partly open each of the ports in intermediate positions to change the rate of flow therethrough;

said closure member moving means including a bar affixed to the closure member and passing out of the channel through the outlet means in a leak-proof manner, said bar being manually slidable from the exterior of the unit to change the position of the closure member; and

the outlet means includes a nozzle affixed to one end of the channel which changes its cross-sectional configuration from that of the channel to circular at its other end.

3. The hopper discharge unit as defined in claim 2 in which a cap is provided for closing the circular cross sectional end of said nozzle, and linkage means is pivotally afiixed only to said nozzle and said cap whereby said cap may be moved between a position closing said nozzle and another position clear of said nozzle.

4. The hopper discharge unit as defined in claim 2 in which said channel is defined by said channel defining means along transversely across the unit with the first flow divider positioned thereabove;

wherein said flow dividers each include two wall sections canted to the horizontal at approximately 45 from a common line; and

wherein said walls forming an extension of the hopper are also connected at approximately 45 to the horizontal. 5. The hopper discharge unit as defined in claim 3, in which'said nozzle has a cylindrical section at its outlet and said linkage means includes:

a first and second arm each having two extreme ends, one extreme end of said first arm being pivotally connected to one side of said cylindrical section and the one extreme end of said second arm being pivotally connected to the other side of said cylindrical section; and

a first and second L-shaped arm each having two extreme ends, one extreme end of said first L-shaped arm being pi-votally connected to the other extreme end of said first arm and the other extreme end of said first L-shaped arm being pivotally connected to one side of said cap, and one extreme end of said second L-shaped arm being pivotally connected to the other extreme end of said second arm and the other extreme end of said second L-shaped arm being pivotally connected to the other side of said cap.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,246,805 4/1966 Kemp 222195 STANLEY H. TOLLBERG, Primary Examiner. 

